Berry Rush: developer interview

Berry Rush is our new super-colorful mobile game, starring the beloved, classic characters of American Greetings Properties’ Strawberry Shortcake! We sat down (with some cake, of course) and had a chat with developers Leo, Paolo and Pietro about creating the game.

What were your inspirations in making Berry Rush?

Well, working with American Greetings Properties and the Strawberry Shortcake brand, we had a ton of material from which to take inspiration. To start with, we knew we wanted a game that appealed to children but could be played by anybody. Between the three of us, we’ve got a lot of experience already in making games for wide, varied audiences, so we looked forward to this challenge! We thought the runner genre was one that enough people are familiar with that it would be easy to get into, but still allows plenty of room for innovation.

Berry Rush is aimed at a slightly younger audience than a lot of our other games – what design features did you have to implement in order to appeal to that audience?

In terms of gameplay, we didn’t really need to change much – kids are better at games these days than adults! Perhaps Berry Rush starts off a tiny bit easier than some of our other games, but this is still a game to challenge all ages.

We did want to add a new layer to the runner genre that we hope will appeal specifically to a younger audience – so at the end of each run, you use the fruit collected to make cakes. That said, we find it quite fun as well!

Is there anything that’s been tweaked in the last month or so, as the game moves towards soft-launch and global launch?

We’ve been steadily improving the user interface, making sure everything is as easy to understand as possible. We’re also working on the flow of the game, and making the difficulty a little more accessible in the early stages, so everyone has time to understand and get into the game before we start throwing a challenge at you!

What was it like to work with American Greetings Properties?

It was great! The whole thing has been a really productive, creative process. They were a huge help with how the gameworld should be created, the way the characters should look, but also in small details that we think have really made Berry Rush into a fun game. Through the whole process, this has been a collaborative effort.

What else are you planning on adding into Berry Rush further down the line?

New costumes, new characters, new environments… and some secret stuff that we’re not going to tell you about yet!

What are you personally most proud of in Berry Rush? Any specific feature / challenge that was overcome in the development?

Strawberry Shortcake has had 35 years of success so the bar was high. We’re really proud that we’ve been able to make a game that fits closely within the world of Strawberry Shortcake, featuring tons of characters, environments and (best of all) puppies from that world!

Keep an eye on the Miniclip blog for more information on Berry Rush, and remember to follow us on Facebook and Twitter for all the latest news!